Sometimes for lose weight la willpower is not enough: indeed often imposing rules does not help to solve problems with the scale. In reverse, creates the basis for conflicts with food. The mindful eating, which teaches you to have every experience with food here and now, can be very helpful in fighting stress and nervous hunger. Follow our advice: you will learn to improve the way you eat and to control the emotions that push you towards certain foods. You will also find that the secret to losing weight is not focusing on the list of forbidden dishes, but pay attention to the signs of hunger and satiety, to the sensations perceivable through the senses, therefore sight, smell, taste, in the presence of any distractions. Here is a handbook to begin to orient the mind and become and acquire awareness at the table.
1. In the first few days, feel free to eat whatever you want. Eating consciously means understanding the mind rather than trying to control it.
2. Empty the pantry. To encourage a change in habits, give away all the food that seems to conflict with your desire to eat healthily.
3. Before you go shopping, think about it. Be clear about what you want to buy. And only enters the supermarket with a full stomach.
4. To avoid impulse purchases, breathe. Expel all the air, right down to the last breath. And try to figure out if the urge to throw everything you see in the cart has diminished at least a little.
5. After sitting down at the table, take a break. It serves to allow thoughts to stop and emotions to clear up. Ask yourself, for example, if you are really hungry, say thank you for the food
you have on your plate or ask about the country it comes from.
6. Always sit down to eat. Even if it's just a snack. It is difficult to become aware if you devour a sandwich while running down the street.
7. Limit distractions. The stillness allows you to concentrate on what you are bringing to your mouth, to enjoy it, appreciate it with all your senses, understand the emotions it arouses.
8. Try to be curious. It doesn't matter if you already know a food. Taste it as if for the first time.
9. Make all 5 senses work. Even if during the execution of the exercises you find in the gallery below you are asked to focus on one in particular, never neglect the others.
10. If you feel agitated, move away from food. You cannot remain aware when other thoughts assail you. Go back to eating only after you have calmed down.
Scroll through the gallery below. You will find 3 very useful exercises to improve your relationship with food: you will learn to shopping without temptation, the stay online cooking foods that are really good for you, ea focus only on "feeding yourself" when you eat.
When you go shopping
By performing this exercise, you will learn how to navigate the supermarket shelves without temptation. Just make sure you have your shopping list with you.
- Focus on a neutral point (which does not trigger emotions): your feet on the floor, the palms of the hands on the handle of the trolley, the weight of the basket. It will be your anchor of awareness, to which you can cling if the thoughts aroused by food begin to spiral out of your control.
- Take the food list written home with you. The trip to the supermarket is not meant to teach you to hold back. You have to feel free to buy what you want. As long as it is the result of a conscious choice.
- Put one product in the cart at a time. Always returning your attention to the neutral point you identified at the beginning. This way you will take your eyes and head off of all the foods on the shelves.
- Think back to why you chose a food. Without getting lost in too many analyzes and considerations. You just have to reaffirm the positive decisions you have already made.
- Don't worry if your thoughts start wandering. Whether they are happy or sad, focus on diet or family, just focus your mind on the physical sensation aroused by your neutral point.
- Try to be relaxed. This exercise is intended to bring out your natural self, not to forcefully change or reprogram your mind. As you do it, you need to feel well-being.
- Notice the relationship between mind and breath. Lungs and brain are intimately connected. You may notice that your inhalations become shorter when you are in front of the chocolate and longer near the fruit.
- Take on the cash challenge. While waiting to pay you have to resist the thousand temptations placed on display. Force yourself to hold onto your anchor of awareness.
- Questioned. Ask yourself if buying candy or butts, placed right there, at the checkout, would improve your relationship with food. If the answer is no, don't.
- Before you go out, take a deep breath. Take the time to understand what you have done, feel satisfied and decide to behave the same way every time you go to the super.
When you cook
You will gain the certainty of bring to the table what is good for you and help you stay on track with this food preparation exercise.
- See what you want to use. Often we don't see things as they are, but as we think they should be. To perform the exercise, use fresh vegetables.
- Wash the food. Gently pass tomatoes, salad or whatever you prefer under the tap. Remove all thoughts and focus on the temperature of the water, texture and smell of the food.
- Focus on touch. When you realize that your mind has gone off on a tangent, wandering between past and future, bring it to what you are doing thinking about the sensations that your hands transmit to you.
- Place the vegetables on a cutting board. Then take, for example, a carrot: peel it and notice its appearance, smell, texture to the touch and even the noise.
- Try to be aware of what you are feeling. Do you feel a sense of satisfaction and pleasure? Or of boredom and restlessness? Only when you see your thoughts clearly will you gain full control of your nutrition.
- Slice the vegetables. Do you happen to struggle? Or do you take so much energy to hack the cutting board? The answers should give you an indication of the state of your mind.
- Switch to another ingredient. Take a bunch of spinach or salad, cut it in two with a knife and then smell. Do you smell sweet, bitter, fresh, musty? You don't have to think, but be aware.
- Examine a new vegetable. Grab a tomato and bring it to your nose. You also feel the texture. Then cut it in half and then into quarters. Touch it and smell it again.
- Look at what you have prepared. Place a small amount (no more than a mouthful) of each vegetable in front of you. Notice how they are radically different from each other, in color, weight, scent.
- Do the taste test. Test the ingredients one by one. Dwelling on the flavor. It will help you to learn more about the food and to choose the most suitable cooking method, case by case.
When you eat
This is the most important exercise. By doing this, you will get used to focusing on "just feeding". And to better manage your diet.
- Sit down at the table alone. And free from any external distraction. Before starting to eat, take a couple of deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth, to allow your body and mind to settle.
- Ask yourself questions about the food in front of you. Which country does it come from? Is it an industrial or artisanal product? Try to imagine its ingredients in their natural environment.
- Think about what you hear. Are you impatient and want to start eating? Or are you thinking about the thousand things you have to do during the day? Stay focused on your feelings for at least a minute.
- Thank you for what you have on your plate. Remember that behind any good mindfulness practice is a deep sense of appreciation and gratitude. Don't forget that many people are still starving.
- Evaluate food with your hands and cutlery. Notice the texture, temperature and colors when you hold them between your fingers or cut them with a knife and bring them to your mouth with a fork.
- Shift your focus from your hands to your nose, eyes and mouth. What does what is on your plate smell like? How is it seen up close? What does it taste like? Observe your senses at work, without doing anything.
- Notice how your mind reacts. Does the food you are eating arouse pleasure or not? Is it okay or is it bland, too sweet, overcooked? See how your brain compares it to what you have tasted in other meals. And chew it slowly, to appreciate all the different flavors.
- Call thoughts back to their task. If your mind wanders after the first few bites, try to bring it back to the task of analyzing the characteristics of the food.
- Ask yourself how you feel. A desire to get to dessert early? A sense of discomfort? Or a decrease in hunger? Just observe without doing anything.
- At the end of the meal, do not get up immediately. Stay seated a little longer. And try to extend that awareness to other things you will be doing throughout the day.
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